


The scent that tells you of my love

by shamelessllamapeanutthing



Series: Izzah's wolfstarbingoficlets [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Amortentia, Fluff, Getting Together, Insecure Sirius Black, James Potter Ships Remus Lupin/Sirius Black, James Potter is a Good Friend, M/M, Pining, Potions, Requited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:29:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28094685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shamelessllamapeanutthing/pseuds/shamelessllamapeanutthing
Summary: Sirius Black is pining. James Potter has two braincells and Peter Pettigrew is in possession of one of them.Objectionable use of Amortentia.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Izzah's wolfstarbingoficlets [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044234
Comments: 10
Kudos: 148
Collections: Wolfstar Bingo 2020





	The scent that tells you of my love

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: potions. 
> 
> I always wanted to write this little thing but somehow never got the chance. This prompt on my bingo card was the perfect opportunity.

“Stop shitting me, mate. You know I am serious.” Sirius grumbles. Peter almost points out the overused pun that Sirius still doesn’t drop any opportunity to make but James quickly elbows his side to make him shut up.

… because as much as they enjoy fucking around with Pads and his little _thing_ for the resident werewolf, the dullness of Sirius’ brilliant eyes is telling a worrying tale.

That Sirius is, for lack of a better term, serious about Remus. 

James feels like kicking himself, _because of course he is, and really, were he and Wormtail blind? How did they not notice?_

Sirius dotes on Remus, he always has. Now that he is thinking, James can’t pinpoint exactly when Sirius’ entire being started softening around Remus, he can’t tell exactly when Sirius’ mouth started curving in this vaguely exasperated and completely smitten smile whenever Remus looked at him. The point _is,_ Sirius’ little thing for Moony may or may not be that little after all, and as it seems, they missed all signs of Padfoot’s headfirst dive into the murky waters of what is now becoming obvious, is love.

Sirius is in love with Remus and James, Sirius’ best friend, and sworn brother has done nothing but tease him.

_This won’t fly. This absolutely won’t fly._

“Hey” James puts a hand on Sirius’ shoulder, suddenly unsure of what he is supposed to say when faced with the enormity of Sirius’ feelings “You know we are only kidding around. You need to tell him, Pads-…”

… and that, as it turns out, is the wrong thing to say.

“And risking losing everything? Our friendship? All of this? You know Moony, James, don’t be fucking stupid. Either he will lie to me and tell me he feels the same because of some stupid obligation only he can see or he will feel so guilty that he’ll pull back from me. He’ll shut me out!”

_Okay, this is bad._

“Or maybe… you will find out he likes you too.” Peter, who has clocked into the transformed vibe of their interaction, offers timidly. James feels sorry for him. Sirius’ whirlwind temperaments had always been a bit much for him.

“What are the chances of that?” Sirius snorts.

There’s a storm brewing in his eyes, a twist to his mouth that screams of a self-loathing running deep. They know Sirius has some bad self-esteem issues, but James hadn’t so much as considered it before this point, that Sirius might actually think himself unworthy of Remus’ attention.

Peter glances to him, his mouth downturned. James relates to the despair in the blond’s eyes because Sirius’ expression is damn near heartbreaking and _holy shit, if he had known, he won’t have been teasing him so much about it, fuck!_

_You are a Gryffindor_ , he reminds himself, before venturing to say:

“I’d say they are pretty high. You’re a handsome guy, you are clever, you are funny. You give the best hugs and if I was into guys your entire… rugged, leather-wearing, motorcycle-owning bad boy vibe would definitely be doing things for me.”

Sirius scoffs, but his lips lift in a lopsided grin that makes some visible tension drain out of James’ and Peter’s frames.

“You’d bone me, Potter?”

“Ew, but also, yes.”

… and just because he is a piece of shit who enjoys making people uncomfortable, Sirius turns to Peter and winks.

“What about you, Pettigrew?”

Peter blushes through the entire shade range of red, and then sputters an embarrassed assent.It throws Sirius into an obnoxious bout of giggles and James returns Peter’s conspiring wink with a pat to the shorter boy’s back.

“Anyone with a working libido and sexuality thus inclined would bone you Sirius and you know that.”

Sirius shakes his head.

“It’s not that simple with Moony. He-… he’s got standards.”

“What sort of standards are _you_ worried about not matching?” Peter cries out and honestly why does James attract all sorts of self-doubting idiots for friends, again? “You are bloody amazing, Padfoot and all Moony truly wants is chocolate. Daily. You can easily afford that, so I’d say, you are set. The awesome hair is just a bonus, honestly.”

…

Sirius doesn’t listen to them, but then, they weren’t expecting him to. He is stubborn, that prat and too afraid of losing Moony to summon his Gryffindor courage it seems.

_It is sort of cute,_ James thinks as Lily Evans walks by him on the Common Room sofa he is presently occupying, _things worth protecting teach you to be cautious with them, patient._

He’s glad Padfoot has found someone he cares so deeply for.

… but on the other hand, he has to help his brother woo his other brother. Somehow. _No, wait, that sounds wrong._ James cringes.

“Moony is the designated brother-in-law from now on.”

Peter only nods, before muttering,

“If only there was a way to find out if Remus loves Sirius too.”

The memory rises unbidden form the depths of James’ mind, as memories are wont to, and James Potter decides he and Wormtail are geniuses. Or genii. Whatever. 

… because he _remembers._

He remembers the day they brewed Amortentia in Potions. He remembers Sirius blushing, and he remembers elbowing guy and winking at him outrageously, but there’s another memory, caught as weird but files away as inconsequential seconds later.

James can remember it clear as day now though, how Remus had sniffed the air once after their potion was finished, snuck one worried look at Sirius and turned away. He hadn’t talked to Sirius for the entire class after that.

Now, there is a chance he can be wrong, but James Potter rarely stops to think about whether he is wrong once he finds his heart set on an idea. Ask Lily Evans, she’ll even agree to testify in court over that one.

“Wormtail, you’ve given me an idea. The best idea. Mission WolfStar begins.”

“That’s a horrible name, James.”

“Shut up, I only had like a second to come up with it!”

…

Stealing Amortentia isn’t difficult. The difficult part is getting Sirius to calm down after they’re done sprinkling it all over Remus’ bed sheet because he walked in on them, the prat.

“Moony will know.” Sirius looks about ready to rip his hair out, which would be a damn shame. James _knows_ his father will cry.

“How will he know?”

“He _will_ know.”

“How?”

“Because he’s smart, unlike you stupid, idiotic, fucking-…”

“Who’s smart?” A voice asks and all three of them freeze.

Remus stands in the doorway, his book bag on his shoulder, with his hair looking adorably rumples, almost as if he was out in the wind.

Sirius immediately straightens, his hand flying to his hair. Peter rolls his eyes from next to James.

“You three are so bloody strange.” Remus mutters when all three of them remain silently staring at him as he moves towards his bed. Sirius’ eyes widen in a panic, James’ heart catapults itself into overdrive and he and Peter clutch at each other’s sleeves.

“Were you smoking on my bed, Pads? ‘Cause it fucking _reeks_ of your stupid cigarettes, and that sweaty jacket of yours and…” Remus’ eyes widen. “… dog fur.”

His gaze snaps towards the three of them and _shit,_ Padfoot was right. He knows. It didn’t take him a second to figure out something is wrong.

… and oh no, _oh no,_ his face is getting all crumply now, the way it does when he’s getting ready for confrontation he’d rather avoid and he’s very pointedly _not_ looking at Sirius.

… who looks damn near overwhelmed next to James, but to his credit, he snaps out of it the moment he notices the mounting dread in Remus’ expression. If nothing else, one can always count on Sirius’ protectiveness when it comes to Remus.

“Really? Cause to me it just smells like cinnamon coffee and Honeydukes and that one sweater of yours I borrowed last month.” Sirius steps forward, almost bolting to Remus’ side when the panic in his expression only increases.

“Is this a prank?” He whispers, and his voice wobbles.

“No!” All three of them call out at once.

“Sirius here was feeling too insecure to ask you out, and we were only trying to figure out how good his chances were.”

James explains, and has the very special pleasure (not) of watching Moony’s face cycle through varying stages of confusion into exasperation till he’s looking at James and Peter like they’re idiots.

“You know I don’t need to be in love with someone to go out with them, right?”

“You might wanna kiss your werewolf and shut him up now, Pads. He gets on my nerves when he gets this technical.” Peter mutters.

“But you are,” Sirius still seems scared to get any closer but his eyes remain trained on Remus. James doubts he heard any of what Peter said. “You smell me and I smell you. It means you are.” 

Remus blushes and his eyes dart all over the room before landing hesitantly on James and Peter and… _oh._

_oh._

“Yeah, yeah, we’re gonna get lost now.” James calls out as he hastily starts pushing Wormtail out of the door. It isn’t till they get down to the common room and he finds his grin being mirrored in Peter’s round, flushed face that he realises his heart is still thundering in his chest and that he is _ridiculously happy._

“What have you two done this time?” Frank asks as he walks up to them.

“Landed my brother the _best_ boyfriend in the entire world.” James replies. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment and lemme know what you thought???
> 
> Come scream at me about Harry Potter on [my Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/shamelessllamapeanutthing)


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